On Tuesday, the NFL’s owners voted to expand the Rooney Rule, and to remove the blockade that prevented assistant coaches for applying for coordinator positions. There is also a new resolution that keeps teams from preventing personnel people from interviewing for general manager or assistant general manager positions with other teams.
In a statement, the NFL trumpeted these moves as “new procedures in diversity, equity and inclusion.”
“We believe these new policies demonstrate the NFL Owners’ commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in the NFL,” said Pittsburgh Steelers owner and chairman of the Workplace Diversity Committee, Art Rooney II. “The development of young coaches and young executives is a key to our future. These steps will assure coaching and football personnel are afforded a fair and equitable opportunity to advance throughout our football operations. We also have taken important steps to ensure that our front offices, which represent our clubs in so many different ways, come to reflect the true diversity of our fans and our country.”
The resolution changes the league’s former Anti-Tampering Policy in these ways:
- An assistant coach cannot be denied the opportunity to interview with a new team for a bona-fide Offensive Coordinator, Defensive Coordinator, or Special Teams Coordinator position;
- A non-high-level/non-secondary football executive from interviewing for a bona-fide Assistant General Manager position. In either case, a contract could not be negotiated or signed until after the conclusion of the employer club’s playing season; and
- All clubs are required to submit in writing an organizational reporting structure for the coaching staff with job descriptions for any coach who is a coordinator or co-coordinator within that structure. The resolution also requires that any dispute regarding whether the new team is offering a “bona=fide” position will be submitted promptly to the Commissioner, whose determination shall be final, binding and not subject to further review.
The proposal to reward teams who make “inclusionary” hires with better draft picks, which was rightfully the subject of controversy, has been tabled.
Regarding the expansion of the Rooney Rule, teams will now be required to interview at least two external minority candidates for head coach vacancies; at least one minority candidate for any of the three coordinator vacancies; and at least one external minority candidate for the senior football operations or general manager position.
In addition, the Rooney Rule will also apply to a wide range of executive positions. Teams must now include minorities and/or female applicants in the interview processes for senior level front office positions such as club president and senior executives in communications, finance, human resources, legal, football operations, sales, marketing, sponsorship, information technology, and security positions. The league office will also adhere to these requirements.
Also, all 32 NFL clubs will host a coaching fellowship program geared towards minority candidates. These fellowships are full-time positions, ranging from one to two years, and provide NFL Legends, minority, and female participants with hands-on training in NFL coaching. While positions at each organization vary, these programs have historically helped to identify and develop talent with the goal of advancing candidates to full-time coaching positions through promotion within.
“The NFL is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, which I believe is critical to our continued success,” NFL Commissioner said in a statement. “While we have seen positive strides in our coaching ranks over the years aided by the Rooney Rule, we recognize, after the last two seasons, that we can and must do more. The policy changes made today are bold and demonstrate the commitment of our ownership to increase diversity in leadership positions throughout the league.”
People are right to be cynical about the league’s practices regarding inclusion and diversity. At a time where over 70% of NFL players are black, it is shameful to have a system in which there are just two general managers and four head coaches of color — the lowest total the league has had in 17 years. Perhaps this is the start of something better; perhaps it’s just more lip service from a league that has exercised far too much of it over the years.